Shore Leave (episode)
You may be looking for the concept of Shore leave. The Enterprise crew take shore leave on a planet where their imaginations become reality. Summary The [[USS Enterprise (NCC-1701)|USS Enterprise]] has been through a grueling three months, when they discover a lush planet in the Omicron Delta region that promises the kind of shore leave they desperately need. McCoy and Sulu are part of a landing party there to investigate it -- when McCoy sees ... a giant white rabbit, and following it, a little girl. Soon enough, others are seeing strange apparitions: Sulu finds a pistol lying on the ground; Kirk sees Finnegan, the upperclassman who tormented him at the Academy; the legendary Don Juan appears to Yeoman Tonia Barrows. These are not figments; they are real objects. And then Kirk meets Ruth, an old flame, exactly as she was fifteen years ago. Spock calls from the ship. He has detected an energy field on the surface of the planet -- one that is draining the Enterprise's power. The patterns are consistent with industrial activity, perhaps subterranean. Communications are fuzzy and intermittent, and more dangerous things begin appearing: a tiger, a samurai warrior, and an ancient fighter plane. Spock manages to beam down after communications fail completely; and he's the last; the transporter is also inoperative. The planetary field soaks up energy at the source. Kirk instructs the landing party to rendezvous at the beam down point; there, McCoy encounters a black knight. Convinced it cannot harm him, he stands his ground -- and takes a lance through the chest, dying instantly. The artifacts are exactly like what they imitate: just as pleasant ... or just as deadly. When Finnegan reappears, Kirk goes after him personally. One knock-down-drag-out later, he's no closer to the answers he wants, although Finnegan's comment -- "I'm bein' exactly what'ya expect me t'be, Jimmie-boy" might be a clue. But beating Finnegan makes up for a lot of past miseries, a fact that Spock finds enlightening. He and Kirk realize the truth: all of the artifacts are representations of someone's wish fulfillment fantasy. Gathering the landing party, he instructs them to remain at attention, not to think of anything. An elderly man appears; this caretaker confirms the guess; his people constructed this planet as a playground. Anything one can think of can be manufactured -- and none of it is permanent. McCoy, taken below, has been completely healed, and as a bonus has a chorus girl from Rigel II on each arm. The caretaker offers the use of the Amusement Park planet to the crew while cautioning them to take care what they summon. He will not comment on his species or their home planet, saying enigmatically that he believes the Enterprise crew are not yet ready to understand his people. Kirk plans to beam down shore parties, and beam himself back to the ship ... and then Ruth reappears, changing his mind. Log Entries *''Captain’s log, stardate 3025... uh, .3. We are orbiting an uninhabited planet in the Omicron Delta region, a planet remarkably like Earth or how we remember Earth to be: park-like, beautiful, green, flowers, trees, green lawn, quiet and restful. Almost too good to be true.'' *''Captain’s log, stardate 3025.8. Investigation of this increasingly unusual planet continues, and we are seeing things that cannot possibly exist, yet they are undeniably real.'' *''Captain’s log, supplemental. All contact with the Enterprise has been lost. We're trapped here. Our ship's surgeon, my personal friend, is dead. We're certain now that whatever we're facing is terribly real.'' Memorable Quotes "A princess shouldn't be afraid -- not with a brave knight to protect her." :- Leonard McCoy "They act exactly like the real thing. Just as pleasant. Or just as deadly." :- Spock "The more complex the mind, the greater the need for the simplicity of play." :- Kirk "He's becoming irritable and quarrelsome, but he refuses to take rest or rehabilitation. Now, he has that right, but we've found.....-" "That crewman's right ends where the safety of the ship begins. Now, that man will go ashore on my orders. What's his name?" "James Kirk. Enjoy yourself, Captain." :- Spock, Kirk "I never answer questions from plebes, Jimmy boy." "I'm not a plebe. This is today, 15 years later." :- Finnegan, Kirk "Did you enjoy that, captain?" "Yes... yes, I did. After all these years, all I wanted to do was beat the tar out of Finnegan." :- Spock after Kirk finishes off "Finnegan" Background Information * A great deal of new music was written for this episode, including the jig that plays whenever Finnegan appears. * Although Kirk appears to address the 'Angela' character as 'Teller' early in the episode, she is played by Barbara Baldavin, who played Angela Martine in Balance of Terror (her fiancé, Robert Tomlinson, died in the episode). The script name for her character was Mary Teller and was changed to Angela Martine on the set when somebody noticed Barbara Baldavin already appeared as a named character. * Spock conjures up the tiger when he mentions that Rodriguez had thought of it, yet Rodriguez' communicator wasn't working, so no one else knew he had seen the tiger. This incongruity appears because the scene in the script where Rodriguez, dazed, rejoins Spock, Sulu and Tonia (after Kirk runs after Finnegan for their knock-down-drag-out) was edited out of the aired episode. Though the script does not have a scene where Rodriguez reports all he knows and has seen to Spock, it does not take a great leap of the imagination to imagine that he would do so. Thus Spock would know of his run-in with the tiger. * That continuity blooper and others in this episode (such as Barrows' uniform being ripped in different places) are likely due to the fact that this was literally being re-written as it was being shot. Cast members recalled Roddenberry sitting under a tree and frantically engaged in this. * Editor Fabien Tordjmann came up with the idea of having Finnegan continue to pop out of nowhere as Kirk pursues him. This gave the impression that there was more than one Finnegan. * It's easy to miss, but Angela is also "repaired" by the Caretaker's underground repair area. Rodriguez can be seen looking into the distance in amazement near the end of the show, and in the next scene, he's got his arm around her. * This is the only episode in which the ship is shown orbiting right to left. It is actually just printed backwards, as the numbers on the nacelles are reversed. While the ship is orbiting in this direction in Mirror, Mirror for one brief scene, for some reason it's going the other way for the rest of the episode! * Most of this show was filmed at "Africa, USA." It can be seen in many television series of the sixties. The "wind chime" planet sound effect heard here is unique to this episode. The scenes with Ruth, the samurai and Spock's beam-down were all filmed at Vasquez Rocks near the Antelope Valley. * Bruce Mars might not have had much of a film career, but his exhuberant and maniacal performance here made Finnegan one of "Star Trek's" most memorable characters. * Two of the World War II planes can be seen in the stock footage, although Rodriguez says, "That's one of them!" * William Shatner originally hoped to wrestle the tiger, but was convinced it would not be a wise decision. * Sulu the hobbyist is seen to have a great interest in ancient firearms in this episode. He will tell the space hippies in "The Way to Eden" that his key interests are botany and weapons. If we were to visit Sulu's quarters, there would likely be a gun collection on display. * Sulu fires the six shot revolver four times and Kirk fires it three, for a total of seven shots. * The preview of this episode shows Yeoman Barrows being accosted by Don Juan while wearing her princess costume. This scene was not used in the final cut. * Assuming that Kirk is 33 years old in this episode (he says his age is 34 in The Deadly Years), Ruth must have been quite a bit older than he when he met her. He says she "hasn't aged" and that it has been "fifteen years" since he's seen her. * As in Arena, the shore leave planet is an Earth globe printed backwards with exotic colors added. Trying to disguise this might be the reason the ship orbits in the opposite direction. * Spock sets an enjoyable and inescapable trap for Kirk in forcing him to take shore leave in a very funny exchange in Kirk's quarters. * Fairly obvious use of Kirk's stunt double during the fight with Finnegan at Vasquez Rocks, although Vince Deadrick is a dead ringer for Bruce Mars. *James Doohan (Scotty) does not appear in this episode. * The chain around the tiger's neck used to control the animal between takes can be seen in its two appearances. Refreshingly enough, even though the tiger never directly interacts with any of the performers, they brought in a real animal rather than using grainy stock footage. Links and References Main Cast * William Shatner as Kirk * Leonard Nimoy as Spock * DeForest Kelley as McCoy * George Takei as Sulu * Nichelle Nichols as Uhura Guest Stars * Emily Banks as Tonia Barrows * Oliver McGowan as Caretaker * Bruce Mars as Finnegan * Shirley Bonne as Ruth * Perry Lopez as Esteban Rodriguez * Barbara Baldavin as Angela Martine-Teller * John Carr as Guard * Marcia Brown as Alice * James Gruzal as Don Juan * Sebastian Tom as Samurai Warrior * William Blackburn as White Rabbit * Eddie Paskey as Leslie (Helm) * Paul Baxley as Black Knight / Kirk's stunt double * Vince Deadrick as Finnegan's stunt double * Irene Sale as Martine's stunt double References "Alice in Wonderland"; associational rating; Bengal Tiger; Caretaker; Lewis Carroll; Finnegan; multicellular casting; Police Special; shore leave; white rabbit Media Information VHS edition available through Amazon under ISBN 6300213218, 2-episode DVD with "The Squire of Gothos" under ISBN 6305754993. Category:TOS episodes de:Landurlaub fr:Shore Leave nl:Shore Leave sv:Shore Leave